--- title: "Content Management Project Template | Orangescrum" description: "A five stage editorial workflow that includes the two outcomes most content boards forget: cancelled and rejected." canonical: https://www.orangescrum.com/project-templates/content-management --- # Content Management Project Template | Orangescrum > For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://www.orangescrum.com/llms.txt). [Home](/) / [Project templates](/project-templates) / Content Management Project template # Content Management Template: _Including the Two Nobody Plans For_ Most content boards have a happy path and nothing else. This one ships with Cancelled and Rejected as real stages, because roughly a fifth of what you commission never runs, and pretending otherwise clogs the queue. Available in[Cloud](/pricing "Cloud - included")[Self-Hosted](/self-hosted "Self-Hosted - included")Open Source [Start Free Trial →](/sign-up?utm_source=website&utm_medium=feature&utm_content=template_content-management)[Book a Demo](https://calendly.com/orangescrum) Runs on Cloud and Self-Hosted · Unlimited users, so freelancers and agencies cost nothing to add ## What the Content Management template sets up Choosing Content Management starts the project on a board with the Content Management Workflow, which is five statuses: Open, In Progress, Cancelled, Rejected, and Approved. Work is grouped into task groups, which most editorial teams use as months or as channels. The unusual part is that two of the five statuses are unsuccessful outcomes. Approved is the terminal success state, so if your process ends at publication you add a Published status yourself, which takes about ten seconds from the board. The board ## Five stages, _three of them endings_ A content pipeline has more than one way to finish, and a board that only models success will slowly fill up with things that quietly died. 01 Open Commissioned or ideated. Nobody has started writing it yet. 02 In Progress Being written, designed, or produced. One owner at a time. 03 Cancelled Killed before completion. The angle stopped being relevant, or the campaign moved. 04 Rejected Completed but not approved. It came back from review and is not going out as it is. 05 Approved Signed off. The terminal success state in the shipped workflow. There is no Published status out of the box. If publication is a separate step in your process, and for most teams it is, add Published from the board and use Approved as the gate before it. On day one ## What you get _on day one_ A pipeline that already handles the messy outcomes, which is the part teams usually build wrong themselves. A board as the landing page You want to see what is stuck in review at a glance, and a list does not tell you that. Five editorial statuses Open, In Progress, Cancelled, Rejected, Approved. The unsuccessful outcomes are first class rather than an afterthought. Task groups for the calendar Group by month, by channel, or by campaign, and view the board by group as well as by status. Task types and labels Blog, case study, video, newsletter, landing page. Filter the board to one content type when you need to. Owners and due dates Every piece has one owner at a time, and a date that means something to the person waiting on it. Somewhere for rejected work to live Rejected pieces stay visible rather than being deleted, so the pattern in what gets rejected becomes obvious. Who it is for ## Who _picks this one_ Content and editorial teams A monthly calendar with a review cycle that has to be passed before anything goes out. [Learn more →](/solutions/marketing) Marketing teams with brand review Everything has to clear brand or legal, and that stage is where the time actually goes. [Learn more →](/use-cases/content-production) Communications and PR Announcements and statements where approval is the whole process and speed matters. [Learn more →](/project-collaboration-software) Starting board ## How to load _a month of content_ The template arrives empty. This is the structure editorial teams settle on after a couple of months. Task groupsBy month - One group per month, so the calendar is visible on the board - Or one group per channel if you publish across many at once - Keep two months ahead loaded and no more Per pieceEvery card - Content type as the task type: blog, case study, video, newsletter - One owner at a time, changed as it moves between writer, designer and editor - The publication date as the due date, not the draft deadline - The brief in the description, so the writer does not have to ask The review ruleAgree once - Who reviews what, and the maximum time a piece may sit with them - What Rejected means as opposed to a round of edits - Who can approve, and whether legal is required for certain types - The rule for Cancelled, so dead ideas actually get closed Save the project as your own template once it works. Your version will carry the task groups, the tasks, the labels, and the task types into every future content project. The problem ## What this template _fixes_ The calendar lives in a spreadsheet ✓ One board where status is the difference between the two. Review is invisible ✓ Review is a stage, so anything stuck there is obvious. Dead ideas never die ✓ Cancelled and Rejected are real statuses, so the queue stays truthful. How to start ## Start a project _from this template_ Fifteen minutes, and most of it is agreeing the review rule. 1. 1Create a project and choose Content ManagementThe project opens on a board with the five editorial statuses in place. 2. 2Add a Published status if you need oneApproved is the last stage as shipped. If publication is a separate step, add it from the board before you load anything. 3. 3Create a task group per monthTwo months ahead is enough. Loading six months of ideas is how a content board becomes unusable. 4. 4Invite writers, designers, reviewers and freelancersEvery plan includes unlimited users, so the external writer belongs in the project rather than in an email thread. 5. 5Set the content typesBlog, case study, video, newsletter, landing page. Use task types, so you can filter the board to one kind of work. 6. 6Agree the review rule and write it downWho reviews, how long they get, and what Rejected means as opposed to edits. This is what stops the pipeline stalling. 7. 7Load a month of real contentWith owners and publication dates. Then run it for a month before changing anything. Pairs with ## The features _this template leans on_ [Kanban boardThe daily working view for the pipeline](/kanban-board)[Custom status workflowAdd Published, or your own review stages](/custom-status-workflow)[Project calendarThe publishing calendar as a month view](/project-calendar)[Content production use caseThe full editorial workflow, step by step](/use-cases/content-production)[MentionsSend a piece to a reviewer without leaving it](/mention)[ChecklistsThe same pre publication checks every time](/checklists) Frequently asked questions ## Content Management template _FAQ_ What statuses does the Content Management template create? Five: Open, In Progress, Cancelled, Rejected, and Approved. Two of them are unsuccessful outcomes, which is unusual and deliberate, because a content pipeline that only models success fills up with work that quietly died. Is there a Published status? Not out of the box. Approved is the terminal success state in the shipped workflow. Most teams add a Published status from the board and treat Approved as the gate before it, which takes about ten seconds. What is the difference between Cancelled and Rejected? Cancelled means the piece was killed before it was finished, usually because the angle or the campaign changed. Rejected means it was completed, went to review, and did not pass. Separating them tells you whether your problem is planning or quality. Can I add my own review stages? Yes. Add statuses from the board or the status workflow page. Teams with a two stage review often add Editorial review and Legal review as separate columns so they can see which one is the bottleneck. How should I use task groups? Most editorial teams use one group per month, so the board doubles as a calendar. Teams publishing across many channels at once sometimes group by channel instead. Can I include freelance writers and agencies? Yes, at no extra cost. Every plan includes unlimited users and pricing is flat, so external contributors belong in the project. Roles control what they can see. Does Orangescrum publish the content? No. It manages producing and approving it. Publishing happens in your content management system or your channel tools, and there is no Zapier or scheduling integration. Should I use this or the Kanban template? Use Content Management if approval is genuinely a gate in your process, because the statuses are already right. Use Kanban if your production flow is more about stages of work than about sign off. ## Get your content calendar on one board Five stages, including the two that keep the queue honest. [Start Free Trial →](/sign-up?utm_source=website&utm_medium=feature&utm_content=template_content-management_cta)[Book a Demo](https://calendly.com/orangescrum) ## Other project templates [Kanban templateA generic board to shape yourself](/project-templates/kanban)[Recruitment templateAnother pipeline with accept and reject](/project-templates/recruitment)[Simple templateIf approval is not really a gate](/project-templates/simple)[Procurement templateA request queue with approval stages](/project-templates/procurement) [See all project templates →](/project-templates)